Technical Calling All Coupesters! Let's See 'Em!

Yeah, yeah. I know. They're not REAL roadsters. I've heard it all before...

BUT...for those of us who want an open car but for some reason don't have a roadster body to start with a coupester conversion is a viable alternative. This is nothing new. Hot rodders have been cutting the tops off coupes to make coupesters for a very long time.

So...skipping the OPINIONS of whether making a coupester from a coupe is a good idea or a bad idea, let's see some examples of how it's been done - past and present!

Here's the latest photo of mine. I recently bought it pretty much as-is and have a complete rework scheduled for the winter. I'm toying with the idea of making it a highboy with steelies and tall narrow tires. But in the meantime I plan on putting as many Late Summer and Fall miles on it as I can.

Okay, guys. Let's see yours!

 

Not mine but found this somewhere on the web, i think it was made from a sport coupe.

 

From Wikipedia.
A roadster is an open two-seat car with emphasis on sporting appearance or character. Initially an American term for a two-seat car with no weather protection, usage has spread internationally and has evolved to include two-seat convertibles.

Traditional or not, it is a roadster to me (and Wikipedia).

Hell yeah. I personally think the Coupster has great body lines and looks more like a normal car with normal size doors etc than the pre 1933 roadster versions. The only thing I think requires some ingenuity is the conversion of the windshield.

There is a great deal on one in a Chicago right now with a 1937 flathead v8 for around $3500. If I still lived in town, I would consider it for sure.

 

Do not go to Chicago Elvis. No matter what!

 

80% of this car was built from my scrap pile... I liked it.. Fun car

 

image by GreenMtnBoy posted Aug 21, 2013 at 11:33 PM

 

I love this little car!!!!! It just "sets" right and has the attitude on and I'm sure it didn't cost the same amount as your house.

 

Your car is right in every way....love it no matter how it was born. Tim

 

Here is the one I built with my dad a few years ago. I don't know where it is now but it sure was fun!

 

Nice car do

Nice !! Any more pictures ?

 

I'm kinda partial to this one...


And its spiritual grandpappy...

 

Thanks guys I meant to do a build up of everything the "experts" say you can't do , I lost track of the cost but hard cash I had between 5-7k in it ... It was supposed to be upholstered too but I got a little burnt on that trade..

Painted with tractor paint, lots of freebies/castoff from friends , labor trades...LOTs of hours fixing stuff that should have been thrown away

This version doesn't exist anymore, sad to say its pretty gooked east coast style now

 

I really like the one just posted by thirtytwo, I suppose because it's a lowboy...it looks old timey.............but here is one that was on ebay a long time ago. Tell me that this one doesn't look like a load of smiles to drive, and to listen to all the gears and flatty. I really like it alot, even the unfinished steering wheel. Maybe paint and fit the hoodtop better..then drive

 

There was one Shiney drove the wheels off of a few years back. Is he still around?

 

....it's gone off down the road to another owner, but it was nothing but miles of smiles when I had it...

 

Thanks for the shout FC...I can always count on you.
Heres another shot.

.....WOW!!!!!!!!!!....

 

This is as nice a coupester as I've ever seen. Excellent taste and proportions. Too bad the new owner couldn't leave it alone!

 

Still a work in progress, started as just frame and body, both rusted and damaged, with nothing to left to make a top anyways, so why not a coupster.

 

My project started out as a coupster with a lot of sheet metal mods. Narrowed A-posts, doors, "shortened" cockpit opening (top edge of the quarters and rear upper panel cut out and moved forward 7" for roadster cockpit proportions), sectioned in between the body lines on top of the door, and a bunch of other work in progress. This is an old picture back when I still lived in Amarillo. My recent shots are all too big for the HAMB to upload on here. Nonetheless..



Then I lucked out and scored a roadster body.



I still have the coupster body, but it's going to get built into something else later that I've also been brainstorming about forever. But until then, I have a roadster to tinker with..

P.S. Thanks for the headers again! I absolutely love them.

 

I just got my coupester back on the road last night after a winter-long transformation from fendered to fenderless. It looked a little frumpy before, but it's pure bad boy now!





Here's before, just for reference

 

I think the fenderless version looks great. Being fenderless I would go with a taller, more bias ply looking tire if you don't have to rob a bank to do so.

 

Thanks! The wheels and tires are mismatched in color, width and tire sizes because they are only temporary left-overs from other projects. I've had big (31" tall) and little (can't remember height) Coker Blackwall Bias-look Radials on order for over 6 months. When the front ones arrive I'll mount them on the black powdercoated '40 Ford-style Wheel Vintiques steelies I've got ready for them and mount 'em on the car. Until then I have not much choice but to run what I've got...just like they did back then. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

28 Sport cpe w/31 roadster cowl, delux windshield, 32 frame, 401 Nailhead BW 4sp, 9". Never thought I'd like a roadster but this thing sure is fun and gets alot of attention. Can't take credit for the build; fellow HAMBr oldschooler is responsible. Grandson (8 yrs old) loves it and sees all the attention - maybe he will become a car guy verses an E game addict.

 

Personally, I prefer the fully fendered version, but get the tyres 'right' and it will look good as a hi-boy.

 

Anyway, back to the coupster thread, so apart from windscreen posts, how do you tell if they are a cut down version? Unless you really know each and every model extremly well, its hard to tell. All the roadsters I've been admiring may actually be cut down coupes!

 

Thanks. I really like the fendered version too, but the car had problems left over from previous owners which required the removal of all four fenders to fix...and the fenders were all fiberglass, the rear ones were extra wide for wide tires. I've obtained a set of fixable steel fenders so you never know, it might get re-fendered at some point in the future.

Models other than the roadster have wider doors and shorter quarter panels. Reproduction parts have made changing the windshield area to a more roadster-ish configuration much easier but the doors are always a give away...unless they've been changed, too. There are a few really nice conversions that most people (other than the anal-retentive roadster police) absolutely cannot tell from a roadster except for the longer cockpit and longer doors.

Here's a really great example built by HAMB member thirtytwo which was featured in an earlier version earlier in this very thread. The finished version is stunning!:

 

Here is my coupester. It will not stay a coupester since I bought a complete top for it. I also have the door tops the guy I bought the body from still had. Mustang II front, Maverick rear, have 4 nice fenders, hood and radiator with headlights. Need some time............

 

My coupster is coming together.

 

Did not see this pic in a long time...thanks for sharing and say hi to the sock fuckers!

 

Here's mine 29 sportcoupester